Friday, December 16, 2011

BISHOPS WRITE LETTERS

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead:
Letters from The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori and The Rev. Mark Sisk:

Statements from the Rt. Rev Mark S. Sisk and the Presiding Bishop Concerning
Occupy Wall Street, Trinity Church and Duarte Square
From Bishop Sisk

December 16, 2011

As many of you know, Trinity Wall Street is being challenged to provide a small parcel of parish-owned land, Duarte Square, to the Occupy Wall Street movement for encampment or other undefined use.

Trinity has clearly shown its support for the wider goals of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and has aided protesters directly through pastoral care and extensive use of parish facilities. They have said "yes" to requests for meeting space, bathroom facilities, private conference rooms, housing referrals, and pastoral care, and continue to look for ways to provide direct support to those who identify with the movement in Lower Manhattan. Providing private land without facilities for indeterminate usage, however, poses significant health and safety concerns, and is beyond the scope of Trinity's mission. To this, the parish has reasonably said, "no."

In and of itself, a request for use of a parish space by an outside group would not necessitate a bishop's involvement. But alarmingly, some clergy and protesters have attempted to "take" or "liberate" the space without Trinity's consent, and have clearly indicated their intent to engage in other attempts to do so in the coming days.

While many tactics of the Occupy movement have proven effective and creative, I feel it necessary now to reiterate our Church-wide commitment to non-violence. The movement should not be used to justify breaking the law, nor is it necessary to break into property for the movement to continue.

Together, let us pray for peaceful articulation, in word and deed, of the issues of justice and fairness that have brought the Occupy movement into the national conversation.

+Mark

The Rt. Rev Mark S. Sisk, Bishop of New York

------------------------

From the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate

December 16, 2011

Trinity Church, Wall Street, has provided extensive practical and pastoral support to the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Trinity congregation has decided that the property known as Duarte Park is not appropriate for use by the Occupy movement, and that property remains closed. Other facilities of Trinity continue to be open to support the Occupy movement, for which I give great thanks. It is regrettable that Occupy members feel it necessary to provoke potential legal and police action by attempting to trespass on other parish property. Seekers after justice have more often achieved success through non-violent action, rather than acts of force or arms. I would urge all concerned to stand down and seek justice in ways that do not further alienate potential allies.

+Katharine
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church
Well, now we hear from the bishops on the matter of the use of Duarte Square. Why? What is the purpose of the Presiding Bishop and the Bishop of the Diocese of New York in writing the letters? Why is the national office of the Episcopal Church involved? Why is the Diocese of New York involved? Did Trinity Church ask them to write letters on their behalf, or did the two bishops take it upon themselves to write the letters?

I can't say they make me proud. That Bishop Sisk and Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori encourage non-violence is absolutely right and proper, but what does the Presiding Bishop mean by her caution against 'acts of force or arms'? The only persons armed are the police. The bishops ask non-violence of the Occupiers, and now that they've involved themselves, perhaps they might use the moral force of their words to ask the police to use restraint. The great majority of incidents of violence that I've heard about and seen on video were from unnecessary use of force by the police.
But alarmingly, some clergy and protesters have attempted to "take" or "liberate" the space without Trinity's consent, and have clearly indicated their intent to engage in other attempts to do so in the coming days.
Are the bishops, in their alarm, advising 'some clergy' or all clergy that they are not to side with the Occupiers? What about the rest of us?

Solutions are available for the health and safety concerns. Why not allow the Occupiers to use the small plot of land? Or, if the Occupiers settle, look the other way and ask the police to stand down.

Or, in the spirit of radical justice, Trinity might consider returning Duarte Square to Native Americans, and then the property would no longer be Trinity's nor the Episcopal Church's problem.

The more I read the bishops' letters, the angrier I get. In the end, I think they are shameful.

UPDATE: The New York Times has a story on Trinity Church and the Occupiers.

22 comments:

  1. Three cheers for the bishops. This is ok for you to say thousands of miles away. Would you want these rabble rousers to camp in the entrance to your church? They should go get a job. As I have said, their actions are just antagonising those of us who once had sympathy for their cause. I bet most of them never darkened the door of a church beforehand. They see the church as a soft touch. Why aren't they in the stock exchange building. Thankfully in Australia the police removed them quick smart. I was in favour of NZ having a bill of human rights which Australia does not. However it has been used to prevent the occupiers being removed here. Our council is now spending $3500 to repair the turf and that is just part of the square which has been vacated as the number of tents have dwindled. The council has also had to provide portaloos for months at I do not know what expense.

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  2. The OWS people are not rabble-rousers. They are dramatizing how Wall Street and the Banksters have occupied the government and media, and are calling attention to the fact that fraudulent transactions have gone unpunished, or even criticized by authority. (Well, that should arouse the rabble, I guess, if they get the message. Odd that Brian R. criticizes Grandmère for commenting from a thousand-mile distance, from the comfort of New Zealand.)

    Bishop Sisk, the Invisible (has a strong grip on the diocese, seldom takes a public position), goes almost beyond parody with his remark that Trinity has "aided protesters directly through pastoral care." Just what they needed: counsel with clergy. Reminds me of the early Peanuts strip in which Charlie Brown and Linus find Snoopy shivering in the snow. Deciding to comfort him, they tell him earnestly, "Be of good cheer," and walk away, leaving him wondering what that was all about.

    My husband, Gary, thinks churches go wrong by listening to their lawyers -- say nothing, concede nothing may be good legal advice but it's lousy public relations. If our leaders must say something, it should be positive; keep the reservations for the fine print.

    Your fine Cajun outrage is shared, Mimi. Bishop Packard's wife on the Episcopal Café is quite right that boneheaded remarks like our leaders' paint the church as either irrelevant or the enemy. The protesters'witness is closer to the Sermon on the Mount than that of the privileged clergy

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  3. Brian, Duarte Square is not anywhere near the entrance to Trinity Church. Some of the Occupiers have jobs and are part of the group in solidarity with those less fortunate. Others can't find jobs. I don't know about NZ, but the US is in recession with high unemployment. Some of the homeless have gravitated to the camps. Perhaps there are some who could have jobs and don't want to work.

    If you are antagonized that is your right. I am in sympathy with the Occupy movement.

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  4. My argument is with the occupiers here in Dunedin just 10 minutes drive from my home. This country, like Australia , has social services. As a senior citizen receiving a government pension, I manage to live from day to day on the same amount of money paid to the unemployed. The excess money that I put aside when I was working goes towards house and garden renovations and overseas travel. I have many thousands of dollars less due to the stock market crash. Admittedly I do not have kids to support.
    However, our council offered the occupiers to keep a stand in the square to advertise their frustrations. As I have said time and time again, the people who are making the ridiculous incomes are not affected by any of this, they are laughing while the churches, which do help the poor, are the ones being inconvenienced. While it may be different in the US, in our countries the rich rarely go near a church except for a society wedding and there are less of those these days.

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  5. Brian, I'd like to add that your comment about turf is right on the money as it's the cause of much of the resistance to the Occupy movement.

    Murdoch, we posted at the same time. I read Ms Packard's comment, and I will be quoting her tomorrow, along with words from a splendid essay at the Daily Episcopalian by Joshua Green, an Episcopal priest in Oregon.

    My husband, Gary, thinks churches go wrong by listening to their lawyers--

    Please tell Gary that I said, 'Amen!'

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  6. This is so depressing (not least, for comments like the above, BrianR :-( ).

    WHERE is the Preferential Option for the Least of These?

    WHERE is Christ-like self-sacrifice?

    Fifty years ago, the great knock on TEC (I've long been told) was that it was "the Republican Party at prayer". Has anything really changed? *

    * Except that BOTH parties have largely sold-out to Wall Street, of course. :-/

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  7. Brian, we have social services here, too, such as they are, but many people fall through the cracks of all the programs.

    Different states have different rules for unemployment compensation, which lasts for only limited periods. I know folks who are still looking for jobs long after their unemployment checks stop coming.

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  8. JCF, the letters are depressing and downright embarrassing. The bishops are leaders of the church, and we see their priorities all too plainly.

    It's not as though Duarte Park is a jewel. Judging from the photo, it does not appear to have turf to be ruined.

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  9. Is it even possible to exceed one's Christian obligations, as some in the NYT article claim? Or, perhaps, is that excess what we should really be aiming for?

    Anyone can do the easy part. We should hope to be called to do more. And more. Always.

    "We've done enough." Really, Trinity?

    from our Hymnal 1982 #9

    ...So let the love of Jesus come
    And set thy soul ablaze.

    To give and give and give again
    What God has given thee,
    To spend thyself, nor count the cost,

    To serve right gloriously
    The God of all the worlds tha are
    And all that are to be.

    Geoffrey A. Studdert-Kennedy, 1921

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  10. Is it even possible to exceed one's Christian obligations, as some in the NYT article claim?

    C.W.S., I don't know. Some give their lives. Others might say that's excessive, but it's a long tradition in the church. Thank you...especially for the words from the hymn.

    Anyone who follows the story of Trinity and the Occupiers should know that Trinity owns great swaths of real estate in downtown Manhattan.

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  11. Trinity owns most of the property under Wall Street and the financial industry. It is still a major Manhattan property owner with title to large sections of the west side. As a consequence, it is the richest congregation in the USA in terms of assets.

    Dan Sloan on Facebook raises 2 interesting points. Because Trinity is so wealthy from leases paid by the financial industry, perhaps it has a special obligation. On the other hand, perhaps it's time to retire the actual business of physically occupying property that OWS started. The point has been made, and it's time to concentrate on sustaining and expanding the message.

    Good points. I personally think that some kind of sustained occupation or presence near the symbolic heart of it all (the actual financial industry is spread everywhere from Wall Street to San Francisco) is part of that effort to sustain and to expand the message. On the other hand, the actual business of squatting and taking care of the many people who come by and join is a huge and daunting task. Many occupiers were actually a little relieved to be out of Liberty Plaza. Others were determined to stick it out.

    According to an article in the New Yorker by George Packer, Occupy did indeed get a lot of homeless drifters who had substance abuse problems and mental health issues. The police may or may not have sent them there deliberately. Occupy decided to help them out as best they could instead of kick them out. The famous and contentious hospital tent set up by a group of Iraq war vets in the closing days of the Liberty Plaza occupation primarily served those homeless folks with donated medical and social services. The city wasn't doing anything for them, so the occupiers decided to try themselves.

    Trinity supported the occupiers in the past generously, and I continue to hope that generosity and hospitality will win out in the end.

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  12. Counterlight, I believe Trinity does have a special obligation because of its great wealth.

    I don't know what the next step will be for the Occupiers, whether they will take a different direction to occupying land, whether the movement will grow or peter out. Occupy has already changed the conversation in the country.

    Trinity has been generous on their terms. Read Occupied Bishop's post today.

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  13. I wonder if it would be helpful to offer. Suggestions as to what would be a helpful action for the occupiers to take in order to continue their message in a non violent way?

    Nij

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  14. Mimi, I think you should post the bishop's letter.

    Perhaps it's time to put some bottom-up pressure on the Episcopal leadership.

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  15. Nij, the Occupiers are, for the most part, committed to non-violence. The violence I've seen or read about was, for the most part, the result of excessive use of force by the police.

    I reminded the Occupy New Orleans group of the great moral force that comes with commitment to non-violence. I'm not present at their general assemblies in NO, but I did visit Duncan Plaza one time before the protestors were driven out.

    In Oakland, anarchist types attacked property, but that is the exception, rather than the rule.

    Counterlight, I will probably publish Bp. Packard's post today, along with his wife Brook Packard's long comment at the Episcopal Café.

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  16. You might also post Paul Lane's comment and link on my Facebook post too.

    Trinity may be acting unreasonably at the moment, but they are hardly ogres.

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  17. Counterlight, I posted Bp. Packard's words at his blog, along with Brook Packard's comment at the Café.

    The folks at Trinity are not ogres. Who said they were? They do much good, but I believe they come down on the wrong side on this issue.

    If Paul Lane would add a comment to my post, that would be good.

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  18. The New York Times article is disturbing, in that it names Bill Dobbs as a spokesperson for OWS. We've had long experience with Mr. Dobbs as an obstructionist. He fought lobbying for marriage equality as not radical enough. At a rally in Astoria, Queens, to draw attention to an incident of anti-gay violence, he shouted at the city officials attending that politicians were part of the problem. And when our city councilman, openly-gay Danny Dromm, head of the NYC Immigration Committee, a leader of the Progressive Caucus on the Council, who got into politics organizing the neighborhood to get justice for two Latino kids brutally murdered by gay bashers, wanted to speak at OWS, Dobbs wouldn't let him -- they didn't want to hear from politicians. I want to think the best of the OWS demonstrations -- they've changed the national dialog and there's more to do -- but it's no good if they let people take over who seem simply full of resentment and anger. Trinity Church and the demonstrators need to consider their messengers.

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  19. Murdoch, let's hope the protestors pull back the reins if Dobbs gets too much out of line.

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  20. I understand the OWS desire to create a point outside a corrupt system from which to apply pressure; their fear of being co-opted by the Powers-That-Be isn't unreasonable. And politics is corrupt, more so, the higher you go. One dollar, one vote, and all that. But there are people in the system working to help people and ameliorate the rot. It will be sad if OWS comes down to crazies in the street confronting psychopaths in the suites. OWS has started a discussion; I hope it'll continue it, not cut it off.

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  21. As a semi-crazy myself, I have a certain sympathy for the crazies, but I hope it doesn't come down to just the crazies. What do Bp. Packard and the other clergy see that draw them into the OWS circle?

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  22. Occupy did indeed get a lot of homeless drifters who had substance abuse problems and mental health issues. The police may or may not have sent them there deliberately.

    I've heard that latter rumor, too.

    Regardless, it's undeniable: the homeless mentally ill ARE part of the 99%. Occupiers---the rest of them (marginally saner!)---can't wash their hands of them (the way the 1% does!).

    At the same time, people in an "alternate reality" (mental illness, drugs) can't very well contribute to General Assemblies' decision-making, or planned actions, either---they may well stymie it. It's a difficult balancing act. :-/

    I'll say more about today's OWS vs TWS above...

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